Windows / Pc problems thread.

I think one of the IDE channels is fucked. I put the hard drive and the CD drive on one IDE channel, and the computer works fine. We'll have to remove one of his drives (being either the DVD-ROM or the CD writer), but I don't think he'll miss it.

 

Or get a DVD-writer, they are uber-cheap now! :-D

 

I probably sound like a right idiot asking these questions but since I'm new to XP and mine is very heavy in the Kanji Department (apart from explorer) I need a little help.

Can I add my internet favourites to the START menu like in '98?

How can I change what programs start up when I start XP? On '98 the option was in the System Utilities menu under the START menu but on XP it's different.

Yakumo

 

1/ right click on the start button then click "explore". Then copy the "favourites" folder into the "start menu" folder, and that should do it.

2/ You can manually edit what starts up by going start->run->type "msconfig" (then press enter). When the msconfig window opens up go to the "startup" tab, which lists programs that will be executed at startup.
You can also open the registry (start->run->regedit), browse to Hkey_local_machine/software/Microsoft/windows/currentversion/run, all the things listed there will be run when windows boots. Obviously be careful what you do here. Obviously I can't say how exactly all this will work on a Japanese version of Windows...

 

I'm not to spend any money on it. It's someone's personal computer that they brought in to me. I wouldn't spend anything on it, anyway, so it doesn't matter.

 

Ot just put a shortcut to it in the Startup folder on the Start menu, exactly like Windows 95/98/ME/2000 ;-)

*edit* sorry I should've read that more carefully. The first place to check is always the startup folder. You're not supposed to use msconfig on xp, but it does still work. That is the same app that was used under win98.

Most GENUINE apps will have an option within the programme to remove it from startup (e.g. messenger apps, real player, quicktime....) - I don't use apps that don't allow me to.

 

Does anyone still have the proper versions of realplayer and quicktime now?

:smt067 Bloatware

 

The alternative versions are much better. However, Quicktime isn't as bloated as everyone makes out. Real Player is just evil!!

 

Okay, nobody answered this when I posted it before... there's plenty of Windows pushers here that should be able to. In my Windows XP, Explorer tries to read EVERY damn file when I open a folder. So if I open up a folder of videos... I'm stuck there for a minute while it just chugs along... when all it needs to do is view the filename and a few other details. And no --- I'm not running in thumbnail mode. I'm running in Details mode.

There's gotta be a reg-hack out there somewhere. There is for most other fucked up shit Microsoft sets as default.

 

i posted but i dont know where it went. my umm cough, winme systems freezes up when i try to open media player, IE, or check background properties. im using firefox now but the other things still, well they dont freeze but the mouse moves real slow, so ctrl alt del, shows that "dbhelp" is not responding, kill that and its all fine. cant find dbhelp, nor can adware or spybot, i even ran msconfig, and had windows boot with nothing and it still happens. google is no help so please someone out there who can help, please do so

 

For DIVX AVIs

Alright, not really a hack but if you delete
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32
Explorer.exe won't load shmedia.dll and it won't bother seeking the properties of the videos.
Because of the way .AVIs are encoded Windows can't access the properties without decoding it as well. Also, Windows is taking a capture for a preview screen even if you don't have it set to see one; it still caches one for you. Removing this key makes Windows not bother with it at all...
~Krelian

 

Thanks... I will try that out. Sounds very handy.

 

Yeah, sounds good.

If, however, you want previews, then you should find that making sub folders should sort things out - keeps things organized, too

I don't have much problem with a folder with, say, 20 videos.

 

It's quite a rare problem these days, they call it "Windows ME" ;-)

In all seriousness, first run some antivirus (online scans). If you've got ananti-virus scanner on constantly and you're experiencing slowdown, consider turning it off and scanning regularly yourself. Make sure you're fully up to date on windowsupdate.com, install the latest versions of mediaplayer (and then get real/quickalternative and use "media player classic" that comes with them instead), then if you like try running Norton Systemworks as it may well sort out a few problems.

About your dbhelp thing, did you go into "run" in the registry? It can be found here:
HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Check what's there (list of all things that are booted at startup).

Alternatively you could use a better operating system...

 

Yeah, my friend's WinME system got raped by virii once. Then he got a firewall. Then I gave him Windows 2000. Problem solved. :-D